Crucible of Helex

Helex is my name, Melting is my game! [Rp and Art blog ~ Semi-selective ~ multiverse friendly] Highly selective NSFW. Accepting M!A: now accepting

[eleni-anz]

Ummm byee

[snumblesaurus]

So I kind of hate that Putin is trying to restrict the flow of information into Russia so that he can control the narrative, so for my Russian friends, here is my guide on

How to get around internet censorship and maintain internet privacy

This will be an extremely long post 😅

Priorities

Download the Tor Browser

This will hopefully help you access the internet regardless of Russian government bans. It’s a little slow, but better than nothing. It hides your IP address from the internet, so it’s kind of like using a VPN. A very basic summary of how Tor works: your internet traffic is routed through several “nodes”. The Entry Node, can see your IP address but has no idea what data you’re sending, and this goes through several middle nodes, until it reaches the Exit Node. The Exit Node can see what data you’re sending, but it can’t see your IP address so it doesn’t know WHO sent it. That’s why it’s a good idea to do nothing identifying when using the Tor Browser, like writing personal information. Here’s a blog post with more detailed information about the Tor Browser.

Get a VPN

VPNs are often used to get around government internet restrictions. Russia will probably not be able to do much about it. However, not all VPNs are created equal. Nearly all of the free VPNs are a scam that turn around and sell your data, so free VPNs are not secure. The only exception to this is ProtonVPN which has a free tier, but it’s very slow. Basically the only good VPN is one you pay for. When choosing a VPN, be aware of where the company is based, because if a VPN company is based in the USA, it will have to comply USA privacy laws. So choose a VPN based in a country that has good privacy laws. A great one is Mullvad VPN, which is based in Sweden. But for the purposes of Russia, just making sure your VPN is not Russian or in a country sympathetic to Russia is probably good enough.

Alternative Front-Ends A frontend is the the part of a website which the user interacts with directly. To browse the contents of websites, you usually have to visit them. However, many people have made alternative privacy-respecting frontends to popular websites that allow you to see the site’s content without actually visiting the website. This helps avoid tracking, data-collection, and even countries’ attempts to ban websites. Twitter is banned in Russia right now, but using all an alternative frontend to Twitter works (according to my Russian friend).

Google Translate

Lingva Translate / Instances

SimplyTranslate / Instances

some instances allow you to choose to translate with several other services (such as DeepL)

Imgur

Rimgo / Instances

Instagram

Bibliogram / Instances

Medium

Scribe / Instance

Reddit

Libreddit / Instances

Teddit / Instances

TikTok

ProxiTok / Instance

Twitter

Nitter / Instances

Wikipedia

Wikiless / Instances

YouTube

Invidious / Instances

Piped / Instances

YouTube Music

Beatbump / Instance

If anyone knows of one of these for Tumblr please let me know. I found this site called Tumgir but it looks sketchy and unlike the rest of the ones I listed, it’s not open-source. So visit with caution, but I’m mentioning it because it might be better than nothing.

There are also these browser extensions that automatically redirect site links to the available alternatives:

Mozilla Firefox

LibRedirect - Redirects YouTube, YT Music, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Imgur, Reddit, Wikipedia, Medium, etc.

Google Chrome

Privacy Redirect - Redirects Google Maps, Google Search, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, Youtube.

iPhone (iOS 15+) Safari

Privacy Redirect - Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Google Translate, Google maps, Google Search, Medium

Android

UntrackMe - Google Maps, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube

Messaging / Communication

Matrix is a federated and decentralized End-to-End Encrypted (E2EE) messaging with many platforms, the most popular of which is Element. It’s like Discord, but worse. It’s getting better over time though! You can even use a a throwaway email to sign-up.

If you’re Russian you likely already know about Telegram, but MAKE SURE you’re aware that only Secret Chats are End-to-End Encrypted. So don’t say anything that would get you in trouble outside of a Secret Chat.

End Notes

China is way better at internet censorship. They’ve had years to build the infrastructure to control the flow of information online. And yet, the Chinese people still manage to “climb the wall” and find ways around this. Russia is new to this game and doesn’t have the resources China does. So I really doubt it’ll be that hard to get around their attempts to block websites. Have faith! And feel free to DM me for more info cause this post just scratches the surface for things you can do tbh.

[galactic-spectre]

HUGE huge apologies to those i still owe RP replies to and to those who havent seen much of my art lately. Been through a bunch of stuff recently and i haven't been feeling myself a whole lot.

I should be able to jump back into that all during my spring break so if i owe you a reply or you wish to Rp with me, DM me or comment so i can keep a tab on what to prepare for.

Also! If you have any art requests, jump in my ask box and ill try to get through them either between now or during TFCon and after!

Thank you bunches for being patient with me! Coming march, ill be more relaxed with my schooling and all that good stuff!

[stabbyhandsmcmike]

Forgot to post this here.

Happy 5th birthday DBD

[kindaaaverage]

[omghotmemes]

No, no it isn’t.

[moonlit-aura]

this gif is perfectly timed because it gives you enough time to read it, comprehend it, and still have this too-long-for-comfort moment of suspense before being punched square in the solar plexus

[mostly-him]

[byshz]

A little doodle of object head style I guess

[hesedeu]

microwave oven

[byshz]

DJD and a little bit zombie、spider...Halloween element

[hesedeu]

“BRUSH YOUR. GODDAMN TEETH HOLY SHIT”

[byshz]

A little bit of gothic style.

[itiharasan]

塗りの練習

[itiharasan]

三年前の

[valienriz]

[ballpitbee]

I love this absolutely awful terrible family so much 

[cybernetic-oreos]

the way all these guys fit together is sending me

this is so good

[jet-teeth]

Just some chibi versions of my favorite troublesome murderbots…

[ It’s not exactly a specific holiday theme or anything I guess, but Merry Christmas /Happy Holidays to everyone out there! ]

[blacknpurplewarpster]

burning-and-melting​:

Helex was standing there with the most confused face possible. Wraiths? Fatal Fluffies?? What the slag was this seeker on about? Did he crash and damage his processor or something?! Poor smelter. “Hold on, wait…. Did you hit your head? Wraiths? Fatal Fluffies? What the slag are you even on about?” He noticed the mech’s body language and appearance shifting in a change.

Noticing the transparency, he frowned. “I’m not even presenting myself in a hostile way and already you’re thinking of popping out of here? Rude,”

Black and purple wings flicked some at the others confusion–Oh right, he hadn’t been on Earth in who knew how long. “I did not hit my helm thank you.” Sure he might’ve been secluded for many Cybertronians but that didn’t matter. “They’re nicknames for these organic beasts. The Fatal Fluffies are a bitch to deal with. Big, thick and brown fluffy creatures with horns. But they do not effect our kind unlike the Wraiths, Dire Wraiths. Tall, greenish ugly as fuck creatures. Sharp teeth. Their biomatter can infect us and turn us into these things. It’s quite hard to explain.” Skywarp shrugged some in response. “It’s fun to kill them. Gives me the opportunity to rid of organic creatures without consequences since they are invasive and threatening.” 

Dark arms crossed over his cockpit. “I wasn’t thinking of popping out of here. Usually Decepticons come to me for my teleportation abilities. I assumed you wanted me to transport you somewhere is all. I’m not dumb enough to vop out of here without you tracking me down.” his expressive wings moved once more. “Plus it is nice to converse with a Decepticon for once and not an Autobot.” Rock was always a welcomed companion even if he wasn’t a Cybertronian, they were bros.

[burning-and-melting]

Yeah, he was just going to cross his arms and give the mech the most confused face he could muster. I mean, who wouldn’t be when thrown out of the loop on certain events for a long time? Helex nearly scoffed at the mention of the Autobots. “I better not hear that you’ve been fraternizing with those scum. You know how Tarn gets when he finds out one of us has done something of that level.”

He remembered the last time he brought the news to Tarn that a high ranking officer was being intimate with the opposite faction. Unfortunately for the smelter, he was on the receiving end of the rage the tank expressed. Apparently, not harming the messenger was unheard of in that moment. His tank churned at the thought but now was not the time to recollect those thoughts.